Do you have a New Year’s resolution this year? About 60% of people use the start of a New Year as an incentive to establish good habits. And one of the most common resolutions people make is to get healthier. 

During one of the Bodybuilding.com‘s busiest months, they have to manage deliveries for a higher-order volume, while maintaining the level of customer satisfaction they hold themselves to year-round. That’s no easy feat. 

But Bodybuilding pulls it off because they’ve worked out a delivery experience management process that ensures they can handle orders effectively regardless of volume. Here’s how they got to that point.

How Bodybuilding Saves Costs And Reduces WISMO Calls, While Improving NPS Scores

  1. They have a comprehensive delivery strategy.

For a global eCommerce company with over $200 million in annual sales, managing delivery logistics is complicated—to say the least. To handle deliveries in a way that’s efficient, effective, and affordable, Bodybuilding starts by taking a high-level view of their processes. They consider all the smaller moving parts into their logistics strategy—from different carriers, to tracking technology, to warehouse management—and consider how they all work together.

No one part of the process can be treated as independent from the rest. Each has to work seamlessly as part of the whole to deliver a frictionless delivery experience. So Bodybuilding.com takes a 360-degree view of how things work, and uses that knowledge to develop a strategy for managing the whole delivery experience from the moment a customer clicks “Confirm Purchase” to when they have their item in hand.

  1. They’ve invested in the tools to back that strategy up.

Managing a complex delivery strategy requires more than competent people (although Bodybuilding has that part covered, too). You need technology that enables you to see the full picture of how your delivery process runs. That includes both high-level supply chain visibility that helps you see how all the different parts of the process are connected, and the ability to get actionable insights so it’s easy to spot when there’s an issue with an order. After all, the first step to solving a problem is knowing it exists. 

 

For Bodybuilding.com, Convey Engage and Recover deliver the functionality they need. That ensures they know immediately when there’s a delivery exception or a higher-level network issues causing delays or damages, and they have all of the tools at their disposal to fix the issue. [Learn how Bodybuilding uses delivery alerts to keep customers informed.] 

  1. They take advantage of all carrier options.

Getting packages to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible means working with a variety of carriers. Bodybuilding.com works with around 10 different carriers in a thoughtful zone skipping strategy. That enables them to save money by choosing the carrier that offers the most competitive pricing for each delivery. And it frequently means faster delivery times, based on which carrier can provide the most efficient route. 

Carrier diversification allows Bodybuilding to deliver shipments at a low cost and higher delivery speed without sacrificing its customer experience. But of course, it makes delivery management more complicated. This is an area where our first two tips play a role: a comprehensive strategy helps the company determine which carriers to work with when, and Convey ensures they can track and manage their shipments across all the carriers they use. 

  1. They communicate with customers proactively.

So far, the steps we’ve described all happen on the backend. But the whole point of all this work is to provide customers with a delivery experience that leaves them satisfied with your brand. A big part of that is getting shipments there quickly, but for many customers it’s just as important for them to know what’s going on.

Bodybuilding.com is committed to communicating with customers consistently throughout the delivery process. They offer the option of real-time alerts, and provide a branded tracking page customers can visit at any time during the delivery process to check the status of their order. 

48% of their customers engage with the tracking page, suggesting that they find the knowledge the company shares with them there valuable. And in the relatively rare event that a shipment does run late, customers are less disappointed when they have plenty of advance notice through tracking info and notifications. 

  1. They solve potential problems—before the customer knows a problem exists.

In addition to communication, Bodybuilding.com’s system allows for better problem-solving. Because their tech allows them to spot issues the moment they occur, they can get into gear right away to secure a solution. 

When they see that a package is damaged or delayed, they can determine ASAP if there’s a warehouse nearby with the product in stock and a carrier that can fit a new delivery into their route. In some cases, they can replace the package before the customer ever knew there was a problem. And even when that’s not possible, by taking steps sooner rather than later to fix things and updating customers in real-time, they can still provide a better experience than if they were stuck waiting to hear about the problem from an unhappy customer. 

Better Delivery Experience Management Brings Results

All of these steps add up to notable results. Bodybuilding.com’s customer service team reports receiving 27% fewer service calls asking about missing or delayed orders, and their NPS scores have increased by 6.3%. Even during one of the busiest times of year, the brand can keep a handle on the complex delivery process, ensure a seamless customer journey, and win loyal fans. 

Learn how Greg Dahlstrom, VP of Logistics with Bodybuilding.com, raised NPS scores and dramatically lowered customer service calls.